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Benefice
Benefice was one of the new Taken, which was a group of eight powerful wizards enslaved by the Lady. Benefice, and the rest of the new Taken with the sole exception of Whisper, dressed identically. The Annalist Croaker would come to know that Benefice was male during his conversations with the Lady, but was unable to discriminate him from the others visually. He, and the other new Taken, would become the Lady's champions against the New White Rose Rebellion during the events of The White Rose. Benefice replaced his great predecessor the Howler (one of the Ten Who Were Taken) as the Lady's new master of the flying carpet. The Lady admired Benefice specifically for his prowess in the difficult task of managing large carpets, and he could slave several other large carpets to his own to fly whole formations. ''The White Rose'' At Rust Benefice was the sub-commander positioned under the Limper at the major city of Rust during the Imperial encirclement of the Plain of Fear. There, like the other Taken in their respective demesnes, Benefice raised his intimidating stella. This was part of the Lady's plan to entrap her enemies Darling and the Black Company, who had been directing Rebel activity from a cavern on the Plain called the Hole for two years. The names of Benefice and the four other newest Taken – unknown until this point – and the dreadful news of their arrivals were gathered by the Rebel agent Sir Tucker and reported by the informant Corder in person to Darling and the Company in the Hole. As Darling and the Plain creatures approached Rust in force, they struck two of the other new Taken (non-fatally) from the sky; Benefice and the Limper were later seen on their flying carpets fleeing Rust. Battle outside Horse Benefice was given the most responsibility of all the Taken in the airborne attack on the windwhales over Darling's army as it marched westward to Horse. In this fiery battle, Benefice personally controlled a W-shaped formation of five massive carpets. He played a major role in this Imperial victory, during which at least three windwhales were killed and death was rained down upon the Rebel infantry and their allied formations of Plain creatures. At the Battle of the Barrowland After the Lady called a ceasefire and forged an alliance with Darling, Benefice went on a two-day journey by carpet for the Lady, and tracked down an stone artifact that proved to be useless and was then used as a doorstop by the Eternal Guard. Benefice next participated with the rest of the new Taken at the Battle of the Barrowland, during which the Dominator was finally killed. He was certainly one of the Taken who brought his formidable sorcery to bear against Toadkiller Dog outside Darling's null. In the aftermath of the battle, Silent performed the Rite of Naming on the Lady, stripping her of all her magical power. Because of the Lady's fail-safe sorcery, this caused the new Taken to become powerless as well, and they lost all control of their carpets. Benefice must have been one of the Taken who immediately plummeted, screaming, from the sky. He appears to have been the only Taken killed during this fall, however. Benefice's name was conspicuously missing from the list of 5 new Taken who were specified to still be alive many years later, in Bleak Seasons, according to reliable intelligence gathered by Otto and Hagop. In other media * In the 2000 PC video game Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer, there is a non-playable character named after Benefice. Other Black Company references in this game include a character named after Whisper and a village named after Rust. In the preceding game (Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor), additional Black Company references included characters named after the Dorotea Senjak ("Dorothy Senjac") and Elmo. Category:Characters Category:Wizards Category:New Taken Category:Enemies of the Black Company Category:Allies of the Black Company